Crashed my P4P Pro, going in to DJI repair process

Scubamaniac · Feb 5, 2017

I'm pissed at myself and this was definitely interesting as I thought collision avoidance is supposed to always be on in front when in P Mode.i had all safety features enabled. I was about 8 feet off the ground and ran ino my neighbors tank (industrial truck that's solid steel framed truck bed. It actually went in the bed of the truck, no damage there.

Cracked the camera lens and busted open a landing gear and sensor. Ultimately my fault so I'm not blaming DJI as I definitely could of avoid the HUA (head up,***) situation but I'm concerned why the drone didn't stop seeing an obstacle or is that only when in RTH? I thought it wasn't supposed to let you drive it into something.

It's packed up and going to DJI under the refresh program. Thank G@d I have that! I did get a firmware notice Tate before the flight so I did do the update. I flew around 15 minutes perfect then came in to land and should of hovered high and came straight down but Nooooo,...

I did upload my logs to Healthy Drones ( not sure how to post them to review? ) and the P4P will be delivered to DJI Tuesday. I filled out the online repair and so I wanted to just document the process here so hopefully others do not have to go through it and if so what it was like.

I'm hoping it's replaced quickly as they are just about a 5 hr drive away. No way it can be "fixed" so it will be interesting to see how they process it. The props are perfect, no dents, nicks, etc which is interesting. The battery had popped out a bit so it clearly killed power right when it hit.

I think it's going to cost me 99 bucks, but I sure wish I knew if collision avoidance should of prevented it as if it were working it would of clearly seen the obstacle. If so I should t have to pay anything but I could of had something set wrong which is always a possibility.

Hoping the experience is a lot less painless than watching your P4P go down for the count!

Jayfdee · Feb 5, 2017

I can only comment about my P4, non pro, but it works for me in forward mode. I regularly test it by flying slowly towards a wall, it can brake very sharply which gives me confidence.
Where you flying sideways perhaps? I understand the side sensors do not really offer much protection, but as I say I do not own one.

smiller · Feb 5, 2017

Jayfdee said:
I understand the side sensors do not really offer much protection, but as I say I do not own one.

The side sensors work great... when they're on that is, which is only in beginner or tripod modes.

To the OP, if you were moving forward (or backward) and if OA was fully turned on then the aircraft should have either stopped or tried to sidestep the obstacle. Only the flight log can say if both were in fact the case. Beyond that it's possible that extreme lighting conditions could have confused OA, but nothing like that was mentioned.

Scubamaniac · Feb 5, 2017

Jayfdee said:
I can only comment about my P4, non pro, but it works for me in forward mode. I regularly test it by flying slowly towards a wall, it can brake very sharply which gives me confidence.
Where you flying sideways perhaps? I understand the side sensors do not really offer much protection, but as I say I do not own one.

Nope, straight on. That's what concern me.

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Scubamaniac · Feb 5, 2017

smiller said:
The side sensors work great... when they're on that is, which is only in beginner or tripod modes.

To the OP, if you were moving forward (or backward) and if OA was fully turned on then the aircraft should have either stopped or tried to sidestep the obstacle. Only the flight log can say if both were in fact the case. Beyond that it's possible that extreme lighting conditions could have confused OA, but nothing like that was mentioned.

Where is the flight log that shows all the settings turned on?

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smiller · Feb 5, 2017

Scubamaniac said:
Where is the flight log that shows all the settings turned on?

Detailed info like that would be in the .DAT files stored on the aircraft. They can be downloaded using the DJI Assistant PC program but I'm not sure how to read them.

Scubamaniac · Feb 5, 2017

Darn, packed it up already buy have my sd card. I wonder if it's in the data folder that there ( not dcim but data)

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Scubamaniac · Feb 5, 2017

At least I know it got up to 30mph at 400ft with a head wind

have to always find a positive!

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F3honda4me · Feb 5, 2017

What time of day was it? OA is a feature you want to have as an in case but should never be relied upon to fly the craft for you, so to speak. Flying into the back of a truck going only forward seems like kind of a deliberate thing? Were you trying to test? What color is the truck?

smiller · Feb 5, 2017

Scubamaniac said:
Darn, packed it up already buy have my sd card. I wonder if it's in the data folder that there ( not dcim but data)

The .DAT files are not stored on the SD card but rather are in some memory in the aircraft controller itself and the only way I know of to download them is via the DJI Assistant app (and this is what DJI will instruct you to do if you open a trouble case with them where you are not returning the aircraft.) The .DAT files are very detailed and contain information on just about every operational aspect of the aircraft in real time, all settings, etc., but I'm not sure if anyone but DJI engineering can read them.

Scubamaniac · Feb 5, 2017

F3honda4me said:
What time of day was it? OA is a feature you want to have as an in case but should never be relied upon to fly the craft for you, so to speak. Flying into the back of a truck going only forward seems like kind of a deliberate thing? Were you trying to test? What color is the truck?

Color of the truck was black, bright daylight outside. I didn't deliberately crash into the truck, I did deliberately bring it in from up the road and down to about feet to do a flyby in front of me. I wasn't trying to test it but it definitely failed that test of obstacle avoidance! ;-)

KevMo Photog · Feb 5, 2017

Scubamaniac said:
Color of the truck was black, bright daylight outside. I didn't deliberately crash into the truck, I did deliberately bring it in from up the road and down to about feet to do a flyby in front of me. I wasn't trying to test it but it definitely failed that test of obstacle avoidance! ;-)

Dang hate to hear you crashed your P4P. So you were at 8ft off the ground and you had your object avoidance turned on and you intentionally flew it right at the back of this truck at how fast hoping it would stop? Was it dark or was the truck black? You sure you were in P mode instead of Sport mode? Because the sensors are disabled in Sport mode. Just read that you said the truck was black. Possible that it could not read it since it was black.

F3honda4me · Feb 5, 2017

Black is hard for the OA to see

Scubamaniac · Feb 6, 2017

KevMo Photog said:
Dang hate to hear you crashed your P4P. So you were at 8ft off the ground and you had your object avoidance turned on and you intentionally flew it right at the back of this truck at how fast hoping it would stop? Was it dark or was the truck black? You sure you were in P mode instead of Sport mode? Because the sensors are disabled in Sport mode. Just read that you said the truck was black. Possible that it could not read it since it was black.

No it was in P mode and it was not intentional. I would never try to intentionally run into the back of a steel caged truck. It will be interesting to see what DJI sees in the logs I uploaded.

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Scubamaniac · Feb 6, 2017

F3honda4me said:
Black is hard for the OA to see

I will get some technical details when discussing with DJI and make sure to post the info back here when I speak to them.

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F3honda4me · Feb 6, 2017

Scubamaniac said:
I will get some technical details when discussing with DJI and make sure to post the info back here when I speak to them.

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Not sure what you mean?

smiller · Feb 6, 2017

FWIW I just experimented with OA on my dark-colored car in both sunlight and deep shade and it worked perfectly.

F3honda4me · Feb 6, 2017

I would have liked to have seen the DAT file as then we could see what OA settings were on. But it's gone now.

Scubamaniac · Feb 6, 2017

Yeah I didn't realize that, I am going to see if DJI can provide them. It was shipped today, there tomorrow, so I will be curious to see how long it takes.

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Scubamaniac · Feb 6, 2017

smiller said:
FWIW I just experimented with OA on my dark-colored car in both sunlight and deep shade and it worked perfectly.

Thanks. I had checked all my setting after restarting after the crash and all the settings were on, so I definitely had everything set right I believe but we will see what they say,

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